Rats... Nothing But Rats

Last night, walking home from the gym, I noticed that a small crowd had gathered around the store front window of a small Fed Ex/Copy store on a commercial stretch near my home. From a distance (and with contact lenses that should have been thrown out a good three weeks ago) it looked like there was a tiny kitty perched on the large copier closest to the picture window. I thought, "Awww, the little guy is in there all alone, and he's probably terrified".

As I got closer I realized that the kitty was a rat. A big rat.

He seemed to be okay with his ten minutes of fame, staring out, unfazed, meeting the eyes of the passerbys who stopped to watch. Amazed that the rodent would actually be drawn to the light, to the highest plain in the store, that he would welcome the spotlight -- I couldn't help but stop and watch. After a moment I realized that the women next to me was a theater friend from town. She said she'd been watching for a while, that he had not moved from his perch, and she wondered if maybe we was high on toner fumes.

At the mention of being high, Mr. Rat chuckled a low pitched, burnt out giggle. Heh-heh-heh-heh. Fortunate for him, when he gets the munchies, Mr. Henry's is only two doors down.

(Incidentally, the title of the post is the name of the featured song in the production of The Pied Piper that my brother and I were in in the third grade. He played the Pied Piper, and I played the mayor. The mayor actually had more lines. I know, because I counted, and I told everyone. As I recall, I got to pound a gavel alot (which was actually a meat pounder/tenderizer that I 'd stolen from home) and I wore a small, little girl-size suit. Because that's what mayors do. Pound gavels and wear suits. I am not quite sure why I even had a suit, since I don't own one now. I think my brother had to wear tights, and learn how to play the recorder. This was all, of course, a great improvement over the show we'd done the year before -- The Littlest Christmas Tree. Which, now that I think about it, probably should never have been done in a public school in the first place.)